Need Endgame

Raced the Albany RR on Saturday. 3 miles of neutral and then the steep hills started. Strong and sizeable field for New York state racing, and racing in August in general. Launched a little attack, Hiroko accelerated, within a few miles we had a split of maybe 8. Then we had 3: Heather, Beth Miller, and me. Once the steep hills ended we had flat terrain with a lot of wind. Beth fell off 25 miles in, then Heather and I rolled it. I kept thinking of Battenkill, where my impression is of my not even trying to win the race, just delivering Heather right to the finish. I knew I needed to attack early, but judgment to attack with 2.5 miles to go was pretty bad. Maybe it was a losing situation, maybe simply on the grounds of not wanting to risk having to lead it out I should have just waited for the sprint, or 500 to go. But I attacked, she covered, and then I had to ride on the front the rest of the way. Good thing she has a sense of humor. Challenging course but somewhat reassuring to see I can haul my way up those steep climbs I don't love so much.